Steven Universe: The Story of Emerald
by Rickieboss
Summary: When Yellow Diamond sends Emerald on a rescue mission, the Earth won't know what hit it! Laugh and cry as the plot thickens - even thicker than maple syrup! WARNING: Gemswearing
1. Chapter 1: Preparation

Chapter 1: Preparation

* * *

A pearl walked to Emerald's room. She knocked on his door.

"Wake up."

Emerald groaned as he slowly rolled sideways in his bed, rubbing his eyes.

"What is it?' He replied groggily.

"Yellow Diamond said she wants you on a rescue mission in the Milky Way Galaxy."

"What? is it another Kindergarten cluster breakout on Mars?"

"Nope. It's the big one."

Emerald immediately perked up and gasped. Could it be? was he finally going? He only managed to say one word.

"Earth?"

"Yeah," She replied. "Hurry, get your rescue team together. Yellow Diamond wants you at the debriefing station by noon."

Emerald quickly jumped out of bed and opened his door. He walked to his team's training room, ecstatic as he went. Could it actually be? Earth? He was so excited that he almost didn't notice his training team's area, room #4. Emerald decided to psych himself up and look ecstatic as possible, even though he was already extremely excited. He liked to make his team feel pumped up so they could preform better. Emerald opened the door to his team. It was a small team, but it was big enough to take down a class 5 fusion. The team consisted of 1 Jasper, 1 Peridot, and 3 rubies. The 3 rubies were identified as Ruby #1, Ruby #2, and Ruby #3. His team stopped their training and looked at him, all except for Ruby #1 and #2, who were busy punching each other.

"Alright Guys, we got a BIG mission today!" Emerald said, more ecstatic than usual.

"Lemme guess: another kindergarten cluster breakout on Mars." Peridot replied.

"I know, right? we've had like 5 of those this past month!" Jasper said.

"No, it's much, MUCH bigger. We're going to..." Emerald's voice trailed off, impatiently glaring Ruby #1 straddle punch Ruby #2.

"Ahem." Both rubies looked up.

"You done?" Emerald asked?

"Wait," Ruby #1 said, giving one more punch to Ruby #2. "Ok, now we're done."

"As I was saying," Emerald continued, "We got a huge mission," Emerald looked around for dramatic effect. "Can anyone guess what it is?"

"Ooh, ooh, me!" Ruby #3 raised her hand.

"Yeah?"

"Is it another kindergarten cluster breakout on Mars?"

"Exactly what I said," Peridot interjected.

"How many times to I have to say it? WE'RE NOT FIGHTING A CLUSTER!" Emerald said, clearly annoyed.

"Well, what else are we gonna fight?" Ruby #2 said. "It's not like they're going to let us fight the rebels on Earth or something."

"Actually," Emerald said, smiling, "That's exactly what we're going to do."

Immediately after him saying that, his whole team erupted with cheering.

"Really? This isn't a prank?" Ruby #2 asked.

"Of course not," Emerald replied. "We're going to the debriefing station right now."

"Yeah!" They all cheered. Emerald led them across the hall.

Of course this wasn't a prank.

...

Right?

 ***ANNOUNCEMENT* I just want everyone to know that I usually take a few days (7-10) to upload new stories and chapters, because I'm usually very busy. I try my hardest to publish as soon as i can. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to follow me and my stories, and review them!**


	2. Chapter 2: Debriefed By The Chief

Chapter 2: Debriefed By The Chief

* * *

Emerald's rescue team stood at attention in the debriefing station, like they always had to do before Yellow Diamond came in. Needless to say, they were all excited. Even Ruby #2 was tittering with joy.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Yellow Diamond walked in. She glanced at Ruby #2 briefly, then started to talk.

"Today you will be-"

Ruby #3 raised her hand.

"No, this is not a prank."

Ruby #3 put her hand down.

"Today you will be going on a rescue mission to Earth, as I hope Emerald has already told you."

The team members nodded.

"The gem you will be rescuing is a novice Peridot. She, Jasper, and a Lapis went to Earth a while back, but no word was ever received from them. Until now. Your Primary objective will be to rescue her. Your secondary objectives are a little bit complex."

She pulled up a holograph showing the mega cluster implanted into Earth's core.

"Our sensors have recently found that the Earth contains a huge gemstone value, which we can place more kindergartens on and produce more gems. Your objective here is to reactivate the first kindergarten. It's the only way we can deploy more in the future." Yellow Diamond pulled up another holograph, this time of a huge class A fusion.

"Our sensors also indicate that the Lapis has gone rogue and trapped the Jasper into a Malachite fusion in the bottom of the ocean somewhere. Your objective here is to find them, unfuse them, and bring both of them back alive."

"We won't fail you!" Emerald said.

"Oh yes you will," Yellow Diamond said cackling, "That's why you're buying a mercenary."

"What? Why?!" Emerald was furious. Buying a mercenary was a symbol of shame and failure. It usually meant the team that was going couldn't handle the mission.

"We can do this!"

"No you can't. You're buying a mercenary. End of story."

"But-"

"No buts. Or do you want me to give the mission away to someone else?"

Emerald kept quiet. Yellow Diamond turned her back on all of them.

"Dismissed." She said. The team walked away.

 ***ANNOUNCEMENT* I just want everyone to know that I usually take a few days (7-10) to upload new stories and chapters, because I'm usually very busy. I try my hardest to publish as soon as i can. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to follow me and my stories, and review them!**


	3. Chapter 3: Mercenary Market

Chapter 3: Mercenary Market

* * *

"I can't believe this!" Peridot said while flying.

Emerald's rescue team was on a hand ship going to a known default mercenary camp, mercenary camp D1, registered near the Milky Way Galaxy. From there, they would cross over into Earth.

"I mean, we didn't do anything bad, right? Now, rescue team #8, there's something to talk about."

"Yeah, I mean at least we didn't screw up and get 3 of our team members poofed." Jasper responded.

"But nooo, Yellow Diamond has to make us look bad."

"Whatever," Emerald interjected. "Let's just do what Yellow Diamond says and hope she doesn't give us something worse afterwards. Are we at mercenary camp D1 yet?"

"Almost," Peridot said. "We just have to get into the atmosphere."

They slowly landed on the mercenary planet, full of gems with scratches on their gems and gems with tough looks.

"Wow," Ruby #2 said as they were teleported out of the interior of the hand ship and onto the finger. "This is awesome!"

"How?" Ruby #3 said, looking around at the mercenaries. "It's just a bunch of thugs and lowlifes ready to kill for light crystals."

"Well, that's what you see. I see a camp full of strong, independent-"

"Okay, I'm going to ignore you now."

"Oh, so you're going to ignore THIS?!" Ruby #2 said as she started punching ruby #3 in the arm over and over again.

"OW! What the heck?" Ruby #3 exclaimed as she punched Ruby #2 back.

"I thought you said you were going to ignore me," Ruby #3 said with a smile.

"Now I actually am," Ruby #2 said with a glare.

"Great! now I can punch you all I want without having to get any backlash!" She responded.

Emerald's rescue team walked through the mercenary camp, looking for a good enough mercenary to accompany them.

"Now, remember," Emerald said as they were walking around in the camp, "We have to find a good enough mercenary to take on those rebels," he said. "The last team that went there was disbanded, that's the reason we're even on this mission."

"That's because the other team was stupid," Ruby #1 said with a grin. "I mean, they're freaking REBELS. It's not like they're going to have a huge defense force on guard 24/7."

"Yeah, Ruby #2 said, still punching Ruby #3 in the arm. "Or a bunch of laser light cannons lying around."

"Or a ship!"

"As if!"

"I bet all they have is, like, two gems pretending that they didn't lose all their fellow comrades in the war."

"Haha, yeah, like 'I'm just going to call up my 9,827 fellow gem rebels to help me fight you, then you'll be sorry!'"

"And then you actually wait for them to call their fellow gem rebels."

"The awkwardness intensifies!"

"Well then," Peridot said matter-of-factly. "If they only had a small amount of rebels, how did they manage to successfully imprison a Peridot, destroy a hand ship, and make a Lapis and Jasper fuse with each other and sink to the bottom of the ocean?"

There was a long pause, and it sounded like no one was going to answer the question. Suddenly, Ruby #2 stopped punching Ruby #3 and said, "Magic!"

That eased the tension enough for everyone to laugh.

"Seriously though, how did they do that?" Emerald asked.

That question was about to be answered very soon.

 ***ANNOUNCEMENT* I just want everyone to know that I usually take a few days (7-10) to upload new stories and chapters, because I'm usually very busy. I try my hardest to publish as soon as i can. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to follow me and my stories, and review them!**


	4. Chapter 4: Illegal Purchase

Chapter 4: Illegal Purchase

* * *

Emerald tripped over a piece of cracked ground.

"Urggh! This is the worst ground I've ever stepped on. If I find the clod who built this..."

"Can we just buy a mercenary and get out of here?" Peridot asked. "All the mercenaries are giving me... looks."

"You know what?"

"What?"

"You buy a mercenary," He said, handing the bag of light crystals to Peridot. "I'm going to wipe off.. whatever I just stepped in."

Emerald's rescue team watched as he walked off, frustrated and hopping on one leg.

"Don't worry, Emerald! I'll buy a mercenary!" Peridot shouted after him. "Jasper, go buy a mercenary."

"What?" Jasper responded angrily.

"Haha, I was just joking," Peridot said neverously. "Rubies, go buy a mercenary."

"Seriously?" Ruby #2 replied. "Just because we can't talk back to you doesn't mean you get to push us around-"

"Actually, it does." She tossed the bag of light crystals to Ruby #3.

"Just don't make sure to buy any pink gems."

"I don't have to listen to you." Ruby #2 said.

"But this is important-"

" **LALALALALA IM NOT LISTENING**!"

"Wow. Whatever. Ruby #3 and #1, you know the drill: make sure not to buy any pink gems, and don't take too long!" Peridot said as she walked away dismissively.

"Great. Now we get to walk around by ourselves this time." Ruby #1 said.

"Man, I'd like to give that clod a piece of my mind." Ruby #2 growled as she looked at Peridot walking away.

"Good luck trying. Even if you're successful, Yellow Diamond will hear of it and break you." Ruby #3 stated.

"Speaking of Yellow Diamond, She is WAAYY too harsh," Ruby #2 said. "I mean, she's the whole reason we're even in this shard-like, janky mercenary planet."

"Yeah, and making us reactivate the kindergarten on Earth as a secondary objective? I mean, weren't we going to let the cluster take care of that planet?" Ruby #1 asked.

"It's a horrible strategy to try and reactivate something that's on a gem-forsaken planet anyway."

"Seems to me like Yellow Diamond's just sending us on a wild gem chase, and the 'secondary objectives' are just to make us feel better."

"Unless..." Ruby #3 interjected. "What if the Earth isn't being destroyed? What if we are going there to start the reproduction of the colony that was planned here?"

There was a brief pause, then Ruby #2 and #1 burst into laughter.

"Oh Ruby," Ruby #2 said. "Sometimes you can be too smart."

"I believe the correct term is 'analytical'," Ruby #3 said defensively. "Let's just find a mercenary already before Peridot gets mad at us for taking too long."

"I'm going to call her 'Periclod' from now on." Ruby #2 said.

"Haha, I dare you!" Ruby #1 exclaimed.

"Dare accepted!"

They started walking around. All three rubies looked around boring and uninterested. Suddenly, Ruby #2 grinned and grabbed the bag from Ruby #3.

"What are you doing?" Ruby #3 called after her.

"Buying a mercenary!" Ruby #2 called back. Ruby #2 ran to a pink gem mercenary and placed the bag of light crystals into her hands.

"I buy you!" Ruby #2 said.

"What?" The mercenary said.

"Oh sorry. Gotta use the official homeworld phrase. I officially buy you!"

"Oh, you're from homeworld?"

"Yep. So, what's your name?"

"It's V.E.R.O.N.I.K.A."

"Nice name."

"It's actually an acronym. It stands for Verified-"

Ruby #1 and Ruby #3 appeared. They dragged away Ruby #2.

"Why did you do that?" Ruby #1 said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby #2 replied. "I'm just buying a mercenary like we're supposed to be doing."

"Did you not hear what Peridot said?"

"No, I didn't listen, remember?"

"Whatever!" Ruby #1 exclaimed. "Just take the bag from her and-"

"No refunds." V.E.R.O.N.I.K.A said, clutching the bag.

"Let's just go,"

"Ok, but if anyone asks, it's your fault."

They led her to the hand ship. Jasper was waiting there as well as Peridot Emerald, who had come back. He smiled when he saw the rubies, but immediately got angry when he saw V.E.R.O.N.I.K.A.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Emerald asked.

"W-we bought her." Ruby #3 said.

"Why would you buy the EXACT person I told you NOT to buy?" Emerald said, looking at Peridot.

"What? It wasn't me! I gave the money to Jasper."

"Don't you pin this on me," Jasper said. "You gave them to the rubies."

"Oh yeah. Its their fault."

Emerald turned his glare to the rubies.

"It wasn't our fault!" Ruby #1 said nervously.

"Yeah, it was Ruby #2's fault!" Ruby #3 said.

"Way to not snitch..." Ruby #2 said.

"Seriously? Why would you do something like that?" Emerald asked.

"You know I never listen!" Ruby #2 replied. "Plus, it was Peridot who-"

Emerald lifted up his hand as a signal to stop.

"Whatever, let's just go. I'm done trying to discipline you guys. This is probably why we're stuck doing janky missions like these," Emerald said. "It's because you guys can't get it together. I've said a million times to not buy stupid illegal pink gems-"

"I'm right here," V.E.R.O.N.I.K.A said.

"I know," Emerald said. "Let's just go and hope you don't screw this mission up."

He slowly trudged towards the hand ship.

"We're super sorry," Ruby #1 said. "It won't happen again."

He looked back at them.

"You sure? Because if we fail, this team is being disbanded by Yellow Diamond."

"What?" Everyone said in unison.

"Yep. So rubies-"

He glanced at them again.

"It better not."

 ***ANNOUNCEMENT* I just want everyone to know that I usually take a few days (7-10) to upload new stories and chapters, because I'm usually very busy. I try my hardest to publish as soon as i can. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to follow me and my stories, and review them!**


	5. Chapter 5: Thinking Out Loud

Chapter 5: Thinking Out Loud

* * *

Emerald looked at his gem-encrusted mirror in his captain's quarters of the hand ship. He was sturdy built, with light green cliff hair up to the front of his head. He had his green clothes centered around his Emerald gem, which was in his shoulder. His skin was a smooth mix of green and brown. Emerald summoned his weapon, a green spear with a diamond-shaped 3D head. It had a little blue electrical ball inside the diamond. He had used it in training, but he didn't really completely know what it did. He looked the spear over as he thought about what had happened just a few hours ago.

What would Yellow Diamond say when she saw that they had bought a pink gem? Maybe they could drop the mercenary off at the D1 camp before they got back. But then they would be penalized for time. Stupid Rubies. Why hadn't Ruby #1 and #3 stopped Ruby #2 BEFORE the mercenary was bought? And how would the mercenary help them fight the rebels?

Ha! They wouldn't need help. those rebels were cannon fodder at best. He didn't even know why Yellow Diamond made them buy one. Oh, that's right. She wanted to embarrass his team in front of all of Homeworld. There was no reason to get them a mercenary. They could handle those rebels easily.

...

Right?

Well, he'd been right once. This mission wasn't a prank, at least. They could easily beat the objectives. Except the huge fusion one. That might be hard. He still couldn't believe that a handful of rebels could destroy a hand ship, imprison a Peridot, and force a Jasper and Lapis into fusion. Man, the gems who went before him must've been _really_ stupid. Unless the rebels weren't an easy target. Unless they weren't sitting ducks. Unless...

Emerald laughed in spite of himself. No need to let himself be intimidated by a bunch of clods. They haven't even gotten to Earth yet. Earth was just another failed gem colony, full of ruins. It was truly sad. Earth was supposed to be a huge gem colony, almost bigger than all the rest. They could've produced 4 times more gems and harvest even more. It was awesome. Well, going to be awesome. Then the filthy rebels and their "leader", Pink Diamond had to come and ruin everything.

No. She didn't even deserve to be called that anymore. Now she was just called Rose Quartz. It was a massive shame. Most of the gems under Rose Quartz's command immediately left her after she started sabotaging gem production and declaring war on Homeworld. Only some of her followers remained. The war didn't last very long. too little rebels and too many Homeworld. Rose Quartz's rebels were overwhelemed. He almost felt sorry for the gem rebels defeated by the crushing blow of Homeworld. He had almost wanted to join the rebels.

 _almost._

Instead, he stayed. And it wasn't that bad. It didn't matter even if he did join them right? The only thing the war even made was a lot of gem shards, a lot of janked-up rebels and Homeworld soldiers, and a huge project to build a megacluster. It didn't really help matters, didn't it? All it would do is pop the Earth like a little shell casing, like popcorn-

 _Popcorn._

Where had he gotten that from? What was popcorn? was it... from Earth? From Homeworld?

Emerald tried to remember. He knew what was coming, though. Every time he tried to remember anything from Earth, his brain started to hurt. Brain? Another word he just came up with. But he knew what would happen if he remembered. The more deeper he went into his memories, the more pain he endured. Well, he could at least try, couldn't he?

He conjured up some images, memories, and words. College. A soccer ball. Policemen. Food. Movies. Fighting. Danger. Adrenaline. Experiment. Pain. Anger. Screaming. Silenc-

"URRGHH!" He screamed as he reeled back in pain. He doubled over, panting and feeling a throbbing pain in his.. In his.. Brain. Yes, that's it. Brain. He felt another pang of pain.

"Stop thinking about that." He commanded himself. Think about something else. Think about the objective. Yeah, the objective. They had bought a pink gem and-

Oh yeah.

The pink gem.

Well, at least they had the hand ship in one piece. At least he had all of his team members here. At least the pink gem didn't go all rogue on them once they stepped into the ship. And those instances were all in time, right? If it had happened, it would've already happened. Emerald sighed a sigh of relief.

At least there was no way they could screw up worse than this.

 ***ANNOUNCEMENT* I'm sorry this took a fairly long time to upload, but what can I say? I'm a busy person. I want everyone to know that this uploading time is NOT the norm.** **I also want everyone to know that I usually take a few days (7-10) to upload new stories and chapters, because I'm usually very busy. I try my hardest to publish as soon as i can. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to follow me and my stories, and review them!**


	6. Chapter 6: Meanwhile, In Beach City

Chapter 6: Meanwhile, In Beach City

* * *

Steven was inside the temple. It was a sunny day and everything was right. Steven was playing that golf video game. Hadn't he finished that? Why was he playing it again? And again? And again? Wait a second... Where are the gems? He called out to them. No one answered. He went into his room and used the pipelines to go to Garnet's room.

She wasn't there. Then he used the same pipeline and went to Pearl's room.

She wasn't there either. Then... He used the pipeline to go to Amethyst's room... and...

She wasn't there. But that wasn't really a surprise because she was always out. Out. Outside. Now Steven knew! They were all outside! He went outside, but what he saw wasn't the gems.

It was a spaceship. No.

A handship. Steven called out for the gems. Nothing answered as the handship came close and was almost landing. He was all alone. 6 figures came out, obscured by the darkness. Steven could barely see their colors. A big green dark one grabbed him by the neck and flung him around. It threw him against the temple's statue. Steven cried as the green dark figure advanced toward him.

Then he woke up.

 **"ARGHH! AHH! NO! GIANT GREEN PERSON! NOO!"** Steven screamed as he flailed around in his bed.

"Steven, what happened? It's okay." Pearl said as she crouch near Steven's bed. Steven calmed down, then gave suspicious look.

"I thought I said I didn't want you watching me in my sleep anymore."

Pearl blushed. "Um, of course, I mean, I just came from my room because I heard you scream."

There was a long, awkward pause.

"You're lying, aren't you?" Steven asked.

"Yes..." Pearl said dejectedly. "What were you dreaming about?"

Steven looked this over for a second, then quickly said, "Nothing."

"Are you sure?" Pearl said. "That didn't sound like nothing."

"Yeah, it was nothing. Sometimes i just scream out random things when I'm asleep." Steven lied. He quickly pretended to go to sleep, then cried out, **"ARGHH! GIANT PINK APPLE!"**

Pearl looked suspicious, but then her expression changed. "Alright, Steven. Sleep well!" Pearl trotted off back to her room's door and activated the gem to open it.

"But..." Pearl said. "If anything's wrong with you... Just tell us, okay?"

"Ok!" Steven replied.

Pearl went back inside her room. Steven sighed, then lay forlorn on his bed. He looked out through the panel door outside the temple. It looked exactly like the one he had opened in his dream. Steven knew something was wrong. Whenever he had a bad dream, or something like that, it was always related to real life. Like Lapis. He had dreamed a whole night about her one time and he even talked with her. He just didn't want the gems to worry. They were all caught up with different things, like looking for Lapis and Jasper, who had fused and argued themselves to the bottom of the ocean. And the Slinker, Steven's special name for that plant-gem-worm-thingy. That's why he was relieved when It wasn't Garnet who had calmed him down when he woke up. Garnet would've remembered the thing about his dreams.

But it was more than a dream, though. That felt all too real. He didn't even want to think about what was coming. But, something WAS coming.

Something big.

 ***ANNOUNCEMENT* I just want everyone to know that I usually take a few days (7-10) to upload new stories and chapters, because I'm usually very busy. I try my hardest to publish as soon as i can. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to follow me and my stories, and review them!**


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